1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a sheet pile wall and in particular to a connecting lock for the connection of sheet pile wall elements.
The invention can be used wherever sheet pile wall elements with hook-shaped ends and sheet pile wall elements with lobe-shaped ends are to be connected to each other.
2. Description of the Related Art
Steel sheet pile wall elements are known, and are used to construct bank reinforcements in harbors and locks as well as for road and tunnel construction. To connect the individual sheet pile wall elements to each other, the ends of these elements are embodied in either a hook-shaped or a lobe-shaped manner. In many cases, a connecting lock is used to connect different sheet pile wall elements.
German reference DE 42 05 455 C1 discloses a double-walled sealing wall of sheet pile wall profiles that serves to seal dumps using the pile-driving method. To connect the sheet pile wall elements, which are reinforced at their ends with a lobe-shaped cross-section, steel locks with curved ends and a center piece are used. However, only sheet pile wall elements with a lobe-shaped cross-section can be connected to each other using these steel locks.
Further, German reference GM 76 30 402 U2 discloses Z-shaped sheet wall pilings, especially for combined sheet pile wall systems, having lobe-shaped connection profiles that are connected to each other by means of H-shaped locking irons. This solution, too, has the disadvantage that only sheet pile wall elements with lobe-shaped ends can be connected to each other by means of the steel locks.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,681,593 discloses steel sheet wall pilings that are connected on both sides at cropped, wedge-shaped reinforcements to an angled steel lock, or on one side to an angled steel lock and on the other side to a claw located in the middle of the center piece. This solution also has the disadvantage that only sheet pile wall elements of a specific design can be connected to each other.
It is also known in the art, for example from U.S. Pat. No. 1,198,767, to connect sheet pile wall elements with hook-shaped ends to each other with or without intermediate elements.
German reference DE-GM 18 48 592 discloses a steel sheet wall piling in which the locking shape of the sheet wall piling is adapted to the locking shape of the other sheet wall piling to be connected. This solution does allow various sheet wall pilings to be connected to each other. However, it is very expensive to adapt the locks of the sheet pile walls to each other, so that disadvantageously the sheet pile wall elements can only be used in limited fashion. For example, the sheet pile wall elements can no longer be rotated in every direction. This expensive solution also runs counter to the idea of sheet pile wall elements as a simple modular system.
In the prior art, it is disadvantageous that the connecting locks for sheet pile wall elements require that the sheet pile wall elements be of a particular design. As a result, sheet pile walls can only be built from a product series of a single manufacturer. Therefore, the prior art is disadvantageous when the individual elements of a product series, are undesirably sized, having, for example, excessively long or short distances between the carrying piles or insufficient mobility in the case of hook-shaped connections. Furthermore, connecting locks in which connecting elements are arranged on the center piece are of limited stability.